System and method for listening to teams in a race event

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented method and system allows a remote computer user to listen to teams in a race event. The method includes receiving audio signals from a plurality of audio sources at the race event; transmitting at least some of the audio signals to a remote computer; and filtering the audio signals as a function of the source of at least some of the audio signals so that at least some of the audio signals are not played by the remote computer and heard by the user.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/620,967,filed Jan. 8, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,127,037, which is a continuationof application Ser. No. 10/060,800, filed Jan. 30, 2002, now U.S. Pat.No. 7,162,532, which is a continuation-in-part application and claimsthe priority of Ser. No. 09/128,896, filed Aug. 4, 1998, which claimsthe benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/075,659, filedFeb. 23, 1998, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to race 2004 events. More particularly,the present invention allows a person to listen to communications ofrace teams participating in a race event where the person is remote fromthe race event.

Race events, such as motor vehicle racing, are a steadily growing sport.In many forms of racing, a driver communicates with a crew during therace to discuss strategy and vehicle performance. The communications arecommonly listened to by fans at the race event, allowing the fans tobecome more involved during the race. However, the transmitters used arenot powerful and are generally limited in range so as to function withinthe area of the race track. Thus, only those fans at the race have theability to listen to the race communications. For fans watching the raceremotely, such as on television, the communications are not generallyavailable except for occasional excerpts provided by the racebroadcaster.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A computer-implemented method and system allows a remote computer userto listen to teams in a race event. The method includes receiving audiosignals from a plurality of audio sources at the race event;transmitting at least some of the audio signals to a remote computer;and filtering the audio signals as a function of the source of at leastsome of the audio signals so that at least some of the audio signals arenot played by the remote computer and heard by the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a pictorial representation of a race event and a system of thepresent invention for monitoring race communications and providing thecommunications to a remote fan.

FIG. 2 is a user interface for selecting which race communications tolisten to.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a channel of communicationfor one team.

FIG. 4 is a monitor illustrating a form of user interfaces for remotelyviewing and listening to a race.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a server.

FIG. 6 is a representative view of a data packet.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of remote computer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A race event is illustrated in FIG. 1 at 10. In the embodimentillustrated, the race event 10 is a motor vehicle race involving aplurality of cars at 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18. The cars race on anoval track 26. The track includes a pit area 28 used for periodicrefueling and maintenance of the cars 12-18 during the race.

During the race, the driver of each of the cars 12-18 are incommunication with team members located in the pit area 28. The driversof the cars 12-18 discuss race strategy including when to performrefueling and maintenance on the car during the race. Generally, eachteam is assigned a particular channel or operating frequency to theexclusion of all other teams so that the driver and the team cancommunicate easily. In the embodiment illustrated, the driver of car 12communicates with a team member located in the pit area 28, designatedat 12A, while the driver of car 13 communicates with a team member 13A,also in the pit area 28.

In many race events, additional team members may be located at otherareas on the track 26 during the race. For instance, a “spotter” 12B isalso sometimes present during the race. The spotter 12B watches the raceand communicates with the driver of car 12 and the team member 12Alocated in the pit area 28, providing relevant information concerningthe race. For example, the spotter 12B informs the driver of car 12 whenhe has cleared another car during the race and can safely pass in frontthe other car. Likewise, a spotter 13B communicates with the driver ofcar 13 and the team member 13A in the pit area 28 similarly. As statedabove, each of the teams for the cars 12-18 have team members in the pitarea 28 and spotters communicating on separate assigned channels.

FIG. 1 further illustrates a system 30 of the present invention thatallows a remote fan to selectively listen to communications made by theteam members of each team during the race. The system 30 includes anantenna 32 for picking up all communications made between the teammembers of each team during the race. A radio receiver 34 is connectedto the antenna 32 and provides the communications to a computer 36 asaudio signals 38. The computer 36 is located at the race track 26 orremote therefrom. However, whether located at the track 26 or remotetherefrom, the computer 36 is connected to a wide area network 40, suchas the Internet. A remote race fan uses a remote computer 42 connectableto the wide area network 40, and accesses the computer 36 (hereinafter“server”) in order to receive information from the server 36 indicativeof the audio signals 38 and, thus, the communications of the race event10.

The server 36 and the remote computer 42 can be a personal computer,laptop computer or other suitable computing device connectable to thewide area network 40 using phone lines, cable lines, satellite links, orother suitable communication means. Generally, the remote computer 42includes a display or monitor, an input device, such as a keyboard or amouse, and speaker, not shown, but well known. The remote computer 42further includes a suitable microprocessor and support peripherals suchas random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM) and storagemediums such as a hard disk, floppy disk/drive and/or optical disk/drivecommunicating with each other over a system bus, again all well known inthe art. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention described belowinclude modules that can be implemented in hardware, software or acombination of both hardware and software.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the remote fan usingthe remote computer 42 can select any or all of the team communicationsto listen to during the race. FIG. 2 is an embodiment of a userinterface 50 displayable on the monitor of the remote computer 42. Theuser interface 50 comprises a list 52 of each of the participants in therace. The list 52 includes unique identifiers 54, such as the car numberor the team name, for each of the race participants. Using a suitableinput device, such as a mouse, the remote fan selects any or all of theparticipants to listen to during the race using the unique identifiers54.

In a first embodiment, selection of a race participant to listen to canbe identified by a “check” indicated at 56 for the correspondingidentifier 54. During the race, the communications pertaining to onlythose selected teams in the list 52 would be provided to the speaker ofthe remote computer 42 for listening by the remote fan. Communicationsof teams not selected in the list 52 would be filtered by either theserver 36 or the remote computer 42 (if all of the communications arepassed through the wide area network 40), and not provided to thespeaker of the remote computer 42. In this manner, the remote fan canchoose which participants to listen to during the race, while ignoringor filtering out all other communications. In a further embodiment, whenthere exists any communication between the driver, the pit area or thespotter, if present, of a selected participant in the list 52, theunique identifier 54 corresponding to the communication is uniquelyidentified in the list 52 so as to signify to the remote fan which teamis currently being heard through the speaker of the remote computer 42.For instance, the unique identifier 54 can flash (as illustrated forteam number 64), be presented in bold face or highlighted whencommunications are being heard over the speaker of the remote computer42. As stated above, typically each team is assigned a unique channel orfrequency, thus, identification of each communication is relativelyeasy.

In a further embodiment, the remote fan can prioritize the selectedteams in the list 52. In the embodiment illustrated, a priority numberis indicated at 58 for each of the teams selected. The highest priorityteam is herein indicated as “1”, while the lowest priority team isindicated as “3”. By prioritizing, the remote fan can be assured ofhearing substantially all communications from a particular team, whilestill being able to hear most of the communications from other teams.For instance, if communications are currently being heard from apriority “2” team through the speaker of the remote computer 42 andcommunication starts for a priority “1” team, the audio being playedover the speaker of the remote computer 42 will immediately switch tothe priority “1” team. Likewise, if a priority “3” team communication iscurrently being heard and a priority “2” team communication begins, thespeaker of the remote computer 42 will then start providing the priority“2” team communication. However, if during the playing of acommunication, a lower priority communication begins, the lower prioritycommunication will not be delivered by the speaker of the remotecomputer 42 until the communication of the higher prioritycommunications suspends, which is typically signified by silence for agiven time period. In addition, if during the communication of apriority team, another communication of a team having the same prioritybegins, the communication of the first playing team will not suspenduntil the communication is over. At that time, the communication of theother team having the same priority will then begin.

In a further embodiment, the list 52 can include other audio sourcessuch as TV commentary provided by a broadcaster televising the raceevent 10. The list 52 can also include race or track officialsbroadcasting on a radio frequency at the race event 10, which istypically only heard by fans or participants at the race event 10. Likethe teams in the list 52, the TV commentary and track channel can alsobe selected and/or prioritized in the manner described above.

The TV commentary can be provided to the server 36 as indicated at 67 orto the remote computer 42 as indicated at 69, wherein the TV feed isseparately provided to the remote computer 42 or the TV feed and thesignals from the wide area network are provided to a single assemblysuch as a settop box. Communications pertaining to the track channel canbe received by the antenna 32 or otherwise provided directly to theserver 36.

In another further embodiment, the remote fan can also select to hearthe race leading participants regardless of whether or not they havebeen selected in the list 52. A selection field is indicated in the userinterface 50 at 60. The selection field 60 includes a user selectablenumber of leading participants to listen to at 62. The selectable number62 is adjustable from zero to any desired number of participants. Apriority field 64 can also be provided and functions similar to thepriority indicators described above. Thus, in the embodimentillustrated, if there exists a communication from one of the first threerace leaders, and that team was not otherwise selected from the list 52,the communication will be played over the speaker of the remote computer42 and the unique identifier 54 will be highlighted or otherwiseidentified to the remote fan in the list 52.

Current race statistics identifying the position of each of the racepositions of the cars 12-18 can be provided as an input to the server36, as indicated at 65. Based on the race statistics, the server 36 orthe remote computer 42 can determine if a communication from aparticular team meets the criteria of field 60.

In yet a further embodiment, the user interface 50 allows the remote fanto choose which team members of each team to listen to if acommunication exists. In the embodiment illustrated, upon selection ofthe unique identifier 54 for a particular participating team, a list 70listing the team members communicating on a team channel is provided.Typically, the team members include a driver 72, a team member 74located in the pit area 28 and one or more spotters 76 alsocommunicating on the team channel. The list also includes correspondingselectable portions 78 for each of the team members 72, 74 and 76communicating on the team channel. By using an input device, such as amouse, the remote fan can select which team members 72, 74 and 76 ofeach team to listen to while filtering out communications of unwantedteam members from that team. This feature is particularly useful at somerace events where communications from spotters occur frequently;however, the information may not be particularly interesting to the racefan. By allowing the remote fan to select those communications of eachteam that he is interested in and filter out communications from otherteam members, audio heard from the race event 10 can be more enjoyable.

In the embodiment illustrated, the unique identifier 54 corresponds tothe team member in the list 70 when that communication is being heardover the speaker of the remote computer 42. Thus, when the driver isbeing heard over the speaker, his/her name will appear flashing,highlighted or in bold in the list 52 as illustrated with respect to carnumber 64. Likewise, when the team member in the pit area is beingheard, a suitable designation such as “PIT” will appear in conjunctionwith the car number.

In a further embodiment, some or all team communications can be storedfor later playing. For instance, as explained above, priorities can beset so that some team communications will be heard over others. In theevent, overlap exists in the communications such that one team is notheard because another team communication is being heard, the formercommunication audio signals can be stored (either at the server or atthe remote listener's computer, discussed below) so that the listenercan hear the communication at a later time. Any overlappingcommunications can be stored in this manner.

If desired, list 52 can include an identifier 53 that indicates a storedcommunication of the corresponding team. The identifier 53 can alsoindicate the team member speaking, for example, “D” for driver, “P” forpit, etc. In FIG. 2, a table 55 can be accessed indicating all of thestored communications for that team. The listener can then indicatewhich communication to play from the table 55. The indications in thetable 55 can also include a time stamp or other signifier (e.g. a lapidentifier for that team or referenced to the race leader) to give thelistener information as to when the communication was made. The listenercan individually play each desired communication, or alternatively,playback can begin with that communication and continue with othercommunications from other members of that team within a selectedduration (from the first identified communication or from last playedcommunication), which can be adjusted if desired at 57.

In one mode of operation, the stored communication can be playedautomatically when there are currently no other selected teamscommunicating. In another mode of operation, the listener can indicateplaying when the listener desires, for instance, by activating theidentifier through an input device such as a mouse. If during playback,a higher priority communication is received, the higher prioritycommunication can be played immediately or stored automatically forlater playback.

FIG. 3 illustrates communication between the team members of the teamcomprising car 12, the team member 12A in the pit area 28 and thespotter 12B. As stated above, the communications of these team membersis herein considered a channel. To identify each of the team members inorder to allow filtering using the list 70, suitable analog or digitalidentifiers are associated with the communications from each of the teammembers. For instance, if the team members communicate over a digitalchannel, a unique digital tag can be associated with the driver of car12, the team member 12A in the pit area 28 and the spotter 12B. Based onthe digital tag, the communication from that team member is played overthe speaker of the remote computer 42 if that particular member has beenselected in the list 70 of that team. In another embodiment, each of theteam members can transmit on their own unique carrier frequency, but beable to receive communications from the other team members which arealso transmitting on unique frequencies. In this manner, if acommunication exists on a frequency corresponding to a team memberselected in the list 70, that communication would be heard over thespeaker of the remote computer 42. In this embodiment, although uniquefrequencies have been assigned to each of the team members, that set ofunique frequencies is considered a team channel.

FIGS. 1 and 4 illustrate other information that can be transmitted to aremote fan using the system of the present invention. FIG. 4 is adisplay or monitor 100 at the remote computer 42. During the race, themonitor 100 displays identifiers 102 for each of the participants, forexample, those selected in the list 52. The identifiers 102 can becontinuously provided on the display 100 or selected and displayed atthe control of the remote fan. A major portion 104 of the monitor 100can show the picture currently being received from the televisionbroadcaster. As stated above, this signal can be provided to the server36 as indicated at 67 or to the remote computer 42 as indicated at 69.In addition to the television broadcaster's view of the race event 10,one or more of the race cars 12-18 can be equipped with cameras as iscommonly known in the art. Each of the signals from the cameras in therace cars 12-18 can be provided to the server 36 as indicated at 106.With the views of each of the cars 12-18 provided to the server 36, theremote fan can select one or more views from the car views 106 as hedesires with the remote computer 42. In the embodiment illustrated, aportion 108 of each identifier 102 is identified as a “car view” forthat particular car and is used to select the car view for display onthe monitor 100. The selected car view then can be displayed in aportion 110 of the monitor 100 in conjunction with the view provided bythe television broadcaster. If desired, the car view can be expanded tocover all of the monitor 100. In another embodiment, each of the carviews can be provided in a list, similar to the list 52 illustrated inFIG. 2, and selected when desired by the remote fan.

In a further embodiment, the server 36 receives telemetry signals fromeach of the cars 12-18 indicating, for example, the speed of the car,the engine speed of the car, the current gear and when brakes areapplied. This information is provided to the remote computer 42 anddisplayed on the monitor 100 such as indicated at 112. In the embodimentillustrated, the telemetry signals are received by the radio receiver34. The remote fan selects which telemetry signals to display. In theembodiment illustrated, a portion 114 is provided for each of theidentifiers 102 to select the corresponding telemetry signals of eachcar. If desired, a list similar to the list 52 described above, can beseparately provided for the selection of telemetry signals.

In a further embodiment, team statistics can be separately selected anddisplayed when desired. In the embodiment illustrated, the statisticsare selected through a portion 116 of each of the identifiers 102. Theteam statistics can include, for example, the participant's currentposition in the race, the top speed obtained during the race, theaverage speed during the race, the average speed for the last five laps,the pit times during the race and the average time in seconds behind theleader. These unique statistics for each of the teams are displayed onthe monitor 100 when selected by the user using the remote computer 42.Each of the team statistics are provided to the server 36 as indicatedat 65 and updated as necessary during the race.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary server 36 for transmission of raceinformation, discussed above, through the wide area network 40 to theremote computers 42. The server 36 includes a processing module 120 thatreceives any or all of the audio signals 38 and stores the signals ifnecessary, the telemetry signals, the race statistics 65, the car views106 and the television feed 67. The processing module 120 processes theinformation for transmission to the remote computers 42, which typicallyincludes digitizing the signals and forming the digitized data into datapackets that are sent through the wide area network 40 to the remotecomputers 42 through a transmission module 122. The use of transmitteddata packets, which can be sent individually, or grouped as files, toprovide substantially continuous viewing and/or listening from a remotelocation over the Internet is well known. One manufacturer using suchtechnology includes RealNetworks, Inc. of Seattle, Wash., which produceREALAUDIO and REALVIDEO. These systems allow a user of a remote computerto select a particular “audio station” or “video station” from a serveracross the Internet. A data stream is then transmitted to the userwhereat a receiving module provided on the user's computer converts thedata stream for display through the monitor and/or output through thespeaker.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the processing module 120processes the information into data packets that include information forat least two different audio, video or telemetry signals for differentteams. Referring to FIG. 6, an exemplary data packet 140 for audiosignals is illustrated. It should be understood that the embodimentshown is for illustrative purposes only and that other data packetshaving alternative structures can be used in the present invention.

The data packet 140 includes portions 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147 and148 corresponding to each of the team channels for the cars 12-18,respectively. In particular, the values contained in portions 142-148are indicative of communication between the team members for eachrespective team. In the embodiment illustrated, analog-to-digitalconverters 149 are provided to convert the audio signals 38 to digitalvalues, which are provided to the processing module 120. Of course, ifthe audio signals are digital, the analog-to-digital converters are notrequired. The processing module 120 receives the digital values andforms data packets 140 that are transmitted to the remote computerthrough the wide area network 40. In the exemplary embodiment, thelength of the data packet 140 is a function of the number of teamchannels present. Typically, the length of the data packet 140 will belimited by the throughput of the connections forming the wide areanetwork 40. In some situations, it may be necessary to form thedifferent data packets for different sets of teams. The remote computeruser would then select which stream of data packets to receive. This isrepresented in FIG. 5 as data lines 150A, 150B, 150C and 150D. Forexample, data packets for data line 150A can be for a first set of fivepreselected team channels, whereas data packets for data lines 150B and150C can be for a second and third set of preselected team channels. Incontrast, data packets for data line 150D can be for team channelsdynamically selected. For example, the team channels present in dataline 150D can be the top five cars leading the race, wherein theprocessing module 120 forms the data packets for data line 150D from therace statistics 65. Alternatively, the team channels present in dataline 150D can be chosen based on other criteria including requests madeby the remote computers 42.

In a further embodiment, the data packet 140 includes a portion 160having subportions 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167 and 168 corresponding toeach of the portions 142-148. In particular, the values present insubportions 162-168 are used to identify the particular team member ofeach team that is talking during the instant of time that the datapacket 140 represents. As explained above, a race team can include adriver, a pit member and a spotter. The unique value is associated witheach of these members and used in the portions 162-168 to identify theteam member that is talking. In effect, the portions 162-168 compriseidentifiers or tags for each of the portions 142-148. In one exemplaryembodiment, one or two bytes can be used for each of the portions142-148, whereas one or two bytes can be used for the portion 150wherein two bits are associated with each portion 162-168.

In the data packet 140 described above, each team is identified by itsposition in the data packet. It should be understood that furtherinformation can be transmitted to the remote computer 42 so that theremote computer 42 can properly determine which teams comprise the datapacket. Even in the case of data line 150D, the server 36 can transmitinformation to the remote computers 42 indicating which teams currentlycomprise the corresponding data packets. In this manner, uniqueidentifiers need not be associated with each team or team member as datais transmitted, which reduces the amount of data transmitted. However,in an alternative embodiment of the present invention, identifiers canbe associated with each data packet identifying which teams and/or teammembers are associated with each corresponding data packet. This allowsthe data packet to only contain teams currently communicating at anygiven instant. Accordingly, the data packets can be of varying length.Although described above with respect to team audio signals, it shouldbe understood other audio signals such as the television feed 67 can beincluded. In addition, similar data packets can be formed for video andtelemetry information, or alternatively, integrated into the data packetwith the audio signals. Compression techniques can be used to minimizethe length of the data packet, if desired.

In yet a further alternative embodiment, each data packet can be foronly one team channel or team member. Identifiers can be included toidentify which team or team member the data packet is associated with.If desired, any of the above-described data packets can be transmittedusing multiplex transmission communication techniques incorporating, butnot limited to, time division, frequency division or phase division.

Referring to FIG. 7, the remote computer 42 includes a receiver module170. The receiver module 170 receives the data packets and processes theinformation contained therein. The receiver module 170 receives the datapackets according to any of the transmission techniques described above.In one embodiment, the receiver module 170 functions as a filter andonly allows those teams that have been selected (check 56) to be heardover a speaker 174. The selections can be stored at 175. In a furtherembodiment, the selections 175 can include priority and team memberselections. The receiver module 170 processes each data packet accordingto the assigned priority and team members to be heard, as discussedabove. The signals can be stored for later playback when desired.

Race statistics 65 are periodically transmitted from the server 36 tothe remote computer 42 and stored at 176. The race statistics 176 areaccessed by the user for display on a monitor 177 as desired and used toassign priority in accordance with values selected at 62 and 64 in FIG.2.

In another embodiment, at least some of the filtering is performed bythe server 36. For example, data line 150D represents transmission ofaudio signals for a selected number of teams leading the race. Thus,although the server 36 receives all communications from the receiver 32,only those communications pertaining to the selected number of leadingteams are transmitted to the receiver module 170. In this embodiment,the receiver module 170 can pass all communications to the speaker 174,or, if desired, further filter the communications pursuant to storedpreferences.

In one preferred method of operation, the receiver module 170 can beused for a plurality of race events. In particular, informationregarding each of the teams for use in the user interface 50 and displayof FIG. 4 is provided to the remote computer 42 over the wide areanetwork 40, for example, from the server 36 or another remote computer,and stored at 178. The remote computer user then selects those audiochannels of interest, assigning priority levels and choosing which teammembers will be heard, if desired. Data packets and race statistics arereceived periodically. As data packets are received and processed, theuser interface 50 or display of FIG. 4 is updated to indicate whichaudio channel and/or team member is being heard over the speaker 174.

If desired, more than one speaker 174 can be used for playing audiosignals. FIG. 7 illustrates a second speaker 180. In one embodiment, thespeaker 180 is used for playing audio signals from a first set of one ormore teams, while the speaker 174 is used for playing audio signals froma second set of one or more teams. Upon receipt of the datarepresentative of the audio signals, the receiver module 170 filters thesignals to each of the speakers 174 and 180. In another embodiment, thespeakers 174 and 180 can be used when assigned priority values wouldcutoff an audio signal being played through the speakers. For instance,if communications are currently being heard from a priority “2” teamthrough the speaker 174 of the remote computer 42 and communicationstarts for a priority “1” team, the audio being played over the speaker174 can continue, while the communication from the priority “1” teamwill be played over the speaker 180. Although described with respect tothe use of two speakers, it should be understood that three, four ormore speaker systems can be used similarly.

Although the present invention has been described with reference topreferred embodiments, workers skilled in the art will recognize thatchanges may be made in form and detail without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method to allow a computeruser to listen to teams in a race event, the method comprising:receiving over a network audio signals at a remote computer remote fromthe race event from a plurality of audio sources at the race eventwherein the audio sources comprise team members of each of the teams;receiving over the network information related to at least some of theaudio sources at the remote computer, the information being other thanaudio communications of the audio sources; receiving an indication thata user of the remote computer wants to prioritize and listen to audiocommunications on the remote computer of team members of a team leadingthe race event as the team leading the race event changes during therace event; and rendering audio communications of the team members ofthe team leading the race event at the remote computer as the teamleading the race event changes during the race event.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the race event comprisesa vehicle race event, the method further comprising receiving at theremote computer visual data indicative of moving vehicles on a track atthe vehicle race event showing relative positions of correspondingvehicles of at least two teams.
 3. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 2, wherein the visual data corresponds to an image of the trackwith vehicles, as seen from behind, moving in front of a vehicletraveling on the track.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3wherein the information related to at least some of the audio sourcescomprises data indicative of performance of a team relative to the teamleading the race event.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4wherein the data indicative of performance of the team comprises time inseconds behind the team leading the race.
 6. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 5 wherein the data indicative of performance of the teamcomprises a pit time.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6wherein the data indicative of performance of the team comprises whenbrakes of the vehicle of the team are applied.
 8. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the network comprises anInternet and each step comprising receiving data being audio signals andinformation comprises receiving data over the Internet.
 9. A computerconnected to a network to receive data from and transmit data to aplurality of remote computers, the computer configured to: receive audiosignals from a plurality of audio sources at a vehicle race event whenaudio signals from at least two different audio sources occur at thesame time, and wherein the audio sources comprise team members of eachof the vehicle teams; receive an indication from the network that eachof a plurality of users wants to prioritize and listen to audiocommunications of team members of a team leading the vehicle race eventas the team leading the vehicle race event changes during the vehiclerace event; transmit to each of said users data over the networkindicative of audio communications of the team members of the teamleading the vehicle race event as the team leading the vehicle raceevent changes during the vehicle race event; and transmit to each ofsaid users visual data over the network indicative of moving vehicles ona track at the vehicle race event showing relative positions ofcorresponding vehicles of at least two teams.
 10. The computer of claim9, wherein the visual data corresponds to an image of the track withvehicles, as seen from behind, moving in front of a vehicle traveling onthe track.
 11. The computer of claim 9 further configured to receivefrom each of said users an indication of a selected team and transmit toeach of said users: data indicative of the time in seconds the selectedteam is behind the team leading the race; data indicative of a pit timeof the selected team; and data indicative of when brakes of acorresponding vehicle of the selected team are applied.
 12. Acomputer-implemented method that allows a computer user to listen toteams in a race event, wherein each team comprises team members and eachteam member comprises an audio source at the race event, wherein audiosignals from at least two different audio sources occur at the same timeduring the race event and data representative of the audio signals ofthe audio sources are on a server, the server being connected via anetwork to a remote computer remote from the server, the methodcomprising: receiving an indication that a user of the remote computerwants to prioritize and listen to audio communications on the remotecomputer of team members of a team leading the race event as the teamleading the race event changes during the race event; receiving audiodata from the server indicative of audio communications of the teammembers of the team leading the race event at the remote computer as theteam leading the race event changes during the race event; using theremote computer and the audio data to render the audio communications ofteam members of the team leading the race event as the team leading therace event changes during the race event; receiving other data from theserver indicative of other information related to at least some of theteams in the race event; and using the remote computer and the otherdata to visually render the other information to the user.
 13. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the race eventcomprises a vehicle race event, the method further comprising receivingvisual data and visually rendering to the user using the visual data andthe remote computer moving vehicles on a track at the vehicle race eventshowing relative positions of corresponding vehicles of at least twoteams.
 14. The computer of claim 13, wherein the visual data correspondsto an image of the track with vehicles, as seen from behind, moving infront of a vehicle traveling on the track.
 15. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 12 wherein the other information is indicative ofperformance of a team relative to the team leading the vehicle raceevent.
 16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15 wherein the otherinformation that is indicative of performance of the team comprises atime in seconds the team is behind the team leading the race.
 17. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 16 wherein the other informationthat is indicative of performance of the team comprises a pit time. 18.The computer-implemented method of claim 17 wherein the otherinformation that is of performance of the team comprises when brakes ofthe vehicle of the team are applied.
 19. The computer-implemented methodof claim 12 and further comprising: receiving an indication that theuser wants to listen to audio communications of team members of anotherteam; and using the remote computer to render to the user audiocommunications of team members of said another team.
 20. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 19 wherein the audio communicationsof the team members of said another team comprise a team different thanthe team leading the race.
 21. The computer-implemented method of claim19 and further comprising: receiving an indication that the user wantsto listen to race commentary; and using the remote computer to render tothe user the race commentary.
 22. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 12 and further comprising visually rendering to the user anindication of which team is associated with the audio communicationsbeing rendered.
 23. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 whereinthe network comprises an Internet and the steps of receiving theindication, receiving the audio data and receiving the other datacomprises receiving data over the Internet.
 24. A computer device toobtain information of teams in a vehicle race event over a network, thecomputing device comprising: a speaker; a monitor; and a processoroperably coupled to the speaker, the monitor and the network, theprocessor configured to: receive an indication that a user of thecomputing device wants to prioritize and listen to audio communicationsof team members of a team leading the vehicle race event as the teamleading the vehicle race event changes during the vehicle race event;receive audio data from the network indicative of audio communicationsof the team members of the team leading the vehicle race event as theteam leading the vehicle race event changes during the vehicle raceevent; render with the speaker the audio communications of team membersof the team leading the vehicle race event over the speaker as the teamleading the vehicle race event changes during the vehicle race event;render a visual identifier on the monitor of the team leading thevehicle race event as the team leading the vehicle race event changesduring the vehicle race event; and visually render on the monitor movingvehicles on a track at the vehicle race event showing relative positionsof corresponding vehicles of at least two teams.
 25. The computer deviceof claim 24, wherein the processor is further configured to visuallyrender on the monitor moving vehicles, as seen from behind, moving infront of a vehicle traveling on the track.
 26. The computer device ofclaim 24 wherein the processor is further configured to receive anindication of a selected team and visually render on the monitor thetime in seconds the selected team is behind the team leading the race; apit time of the selected team; and when brakes of a correspondingvehicle of the selected team are applied.
 27. The computer device ofclaim 24 wherein the processor is further configured to receive anindication to render audio communications of team members of anotherteam; and wherein the processor is further configured to render audiocommunications of team members of said another team.
 28. The computerdevice of claim 27 wherein the audio communications of the team membersof said another team comprise a team different than the team leading therace.
 29. A computer-implemented method to allow a user to listen toteams in a race event, the method comprising: receiving from the user anindication of at least one highest priority team that the user of acomputing device wants to hear over other teams; receiving priorityaudio data indicative of audio communications between said at least onehighest priority team that the user of the computing device wants tohear over other teams at the race event; audibly rendering to the userthe audio communications between said at least one highest priority teamthat the user of the computing device wants to hear over other teams atthe race event using the priority audio data and the computing device;receiving first data indicative of audio communications between a firstteam at the race event, the first team not being said at least onehighest priority team that the user of the computing device wants tohear over other teams at the race event, the audio communicationsbetween the first team occurring during the audio communications betweensaid at least one highest priority team that the user of the computingdevice wants to hear over other teams at the race event; after audiblyrendering to the user communications between said at least one highestpriority team that the user of the computing device wants to hear overother teams at the race event, audibly rendering to the user the audiocommunications between the first team using the first data and thecomputing device; receiving at the computing device other dataindicative of other information related to at least some of the teams inthe race event; and using the computing device and the other data tovisually render the other information to the user.
 30. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 29 each step comprising receivingdata comprises receiving data over an Internet.
 31. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 29 and further comprising renderingto the computing device user an identifier corresponding to the teamthat corresponds to the audio communications being rendered.
 32. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 31 wherein rendering to thecomputing device user the identifier comprises visually rendering to thecomputing device user the identifier.
 33. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 29 wherein the computing device comprises a personalcomputer.
 34. The computer-implemented method of claim 29 and furthercomprising: visually rendering on the computing device indications ofcommunications for one or more teams that occurred earlier during therace event are available for rendering.
 35. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 29 and wherein the other data corresponds to movingvehicles on a track at the race event showing relative positions ofcorresponding vehicles of at least two teams and using the computingdevice to visually render the other data occurs while audibly renderingaudio communications.
 36. The computer-implemented method of claim 35and further comprising receiving an indication from the user as to whichimage of the race to visually render.
 37. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 36 and further comprising visually rendering anidentifier of the team corresponding to the audio communications beingaudibly rendered.
 38. The computer-implemented method of claim 36wherein visually rendering comprises visually rendering an image of thetrack from inside a vehicle traveling on the track.
 39. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 29 and wherein the otherinformation comprises performance of a team during the race.
 40. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 39 and wherein the otherinformation comprises performance of the team during the race relativeto a team leading the race.
 41. The computer-implemented method of claim39 and wherein the other information comprises a pit time.
 42. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 29 wherein receiving from the userthe indication of at least one highest priority team that the user ofthe computing device wants to hear over other teams comprises receivingan indication of which team is a highest priority team, which team is asecond highest priority team and which team is a third highest priorityteam.
 43. The computer-implemented method of claim 42 wherein thepriority audio data comprises audio communications from one of thesecond highest priority team or the third highest priority team, andwherein when audio communications from the highest priority team existwhile audibly rendering the audio communications from one of the secondhighest priority team or the third highest priority team stop renderingthe audio communications from said one of the second highest priorityteam or the third highest priority team and begin audibly rendering theaudio communications from the highest priority team.
 44. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 29 wherein each of the steps ofreceiving data comprises receiving said data from a server over anetwork.
 45. The computer-implemented method of claim 44 wherein thenetwork comprises a wide area computer network or an Internet.
 46. Acomputing device to render information of teams in a vehicle race event,the computing device comprising: a speaker; a monitor; and a processoroperably coupled to the speaker and the monitor, the processorconfigured to: receive an indication of at least one highest priorityteam that a user of the computing device wants to hear over other teams;audibly render over the speaker audio communications between said atleast one highest priority team that the user of the computing devicewants to hear over other teams at the vehicle race event; after audiblyrendering audio communications between said at least one highestpriority team that the user of the computing device wants to hear overother teams at the vehicle race event, audibly render over the speakeraudio communications between a first team that occurred at the same timeduring the vehicle race event as the audio communications between saidat least one highest priority team that the user of the computing devicewants to hear over other teams at the vehicle race event; whilerendering each of the audio communications, render a visual identifieron the monitor of the team corresponding to the audio communicationsbeing rendered; render a first image of the vehicle race event on themonitor; and render a second image on the monitor related to performanceof a team during the race.
 47. The computing device of claim 46 whereinthe processor is configured to visually render on the monitorindications of communications that occurred earlier during the vehiclerace event that are available for rendering, wherein an indication isrendered for each of a plurality of the teams.
 48. The computing deviceof claim 46 and wherein the second image on the monitor related toperformance of the team during the race comprises performance of a teamduring the race relative to a team leading the race.
 49. The computingdevice of claim 46 and wherein the second image on the monitor relatedto performance of the team during the race comprises a pit time.
 50. Asystem to allow a user to listen to audio sources in a race event, thesystem comprising: a processing module configured to receivecommunications from audio sources at a race event, the communicationscomprising communications between teams in the race; and a plurality ofcomputing devices, each computing device configured to receive data fromthe processing module, each computing device comprising: a userinterface; a monitor; a speaker; and a processor operably coupled to theinterface, the monitor and the speaker, the processor configured to:receive from the user an indication of at least one highest priorityteam that a user using a computing device wants to hear over otherteams, audibly render to the user over the speaker communicationsbetween a first team, the first team not being said at least one highestpriority team that the user of the computing device wants to hear overother teams at the race event, when communications between said at leastone highest priority team that the user of the computing device wants tohear over other teams at the race event occur stop renderingcommunications between the first team and start audibly rendering to theuser communications between said at least one highest priority team thatthe user of the computing device wants to hear over other teams at therace event, and audibly render to the user communications between thefirst team after audibly rendering to the user communications betweensaid at least one highest priority team that the user of the computingdevice wants to hear over other teams at the race event, thecommunications between the first team occurring when the communicationsbetween said at least one highest priority team that the user of thecomputing device wants to hear over other teams at the race event wererendered, and visually render on the corresponding monitor a list of theteams having communications that occurred earlier in the race event. 51.The system of claim 50 wherein the processor of each computing device isconfigured to visually render moving vehicles on a track at the raceevent showing relative positions of corresponding vehicles of at leasttwo teams while audibly rendering communications.
 52. The system ofclaim 51 wherein the moving vehicles on the track is an image of therace corresponding to a view from a car.
 53. The system of claim 52wherein the processor of each computing device is further configured tovisually render race statistics of the race.
 54. The system of claim 53wherein the race statistics comprise information about a team'sperformance relative to a leader of the race.
 55. The system of claim 50wherein the processor of each computing device is configured to receivefrom the user an indication that the first team is a priority team thatthe user wants to hear over other teams, the first team having apriority less than said at least one highest priority team.
 56. Thesystem of claim 55 wherein the processor of each computing device isconfigured to receive an indication from the user that a third team is apriority team that the user wants to hear over other teams, the thirdteam having a priority less than said at least one highest priority teamand said first team.
 57. A computing device to render information ofteams in a vehicle race event, the computing device comprising: aspeaker; a monitor; a user interface; a storage device configured tostore audio communications of teams; and a processor operably coupled tothe speaker, the monitor, the user interface and the storage device, theprocessor configured to: receive from the user interface inputscorresponding to a first team, a second team and a third team that auser of the computing device wants to hear over other teams; audiblyrender over the speaker audio communications of said first team; afteraudibly rendering audio communications of said first team, audiblyrender over the speaker audio communications stored in memory of thesecond team that occurred earlier in the vehicle race event; and rendera visual identifier on the monitor of the team corresponding to theaudio communications being rendered.
 58. The computing device of claim57 wherein the processor visually renders on the monitor indications ofteam communications that occurred earlier during the vehicle race eventthat are available for rendering, wherein an indication is rendered foreach of a plurality of the teams.
 59. The system of claim 57 wherein theprocessor is further configured to visually render race statistics ofthe race.
 60. The system of claim 59 wherein the race statisticscomprise information about a team's performance relative to a leader ofthe race.
 61. The computing device of claim 60 and wherein the processoris further configured to visually render a pit time of a team during therace.
 62. The computing device of claim 59 and wherein the processor isfurther configured to visually render an image of the race on themonitor while rendering audio communications.
 63. The computing deviceof claim 62 and wherein the processor is configured to receive from theuser interface an indication from the user as to which image of the raceto visually render.
 64. A computer-implemented method to allow a user tolisten to teams in a race event, the method comprising: receiving fromthe user an indication of at least one highest priority team that theuser of a computing device wants to hear over other teams; audiblyrendering to the user the audio communications between said at least onehighest priority team that the user of the computing device wants tohear over other teams at the race event using audio data and thecomputing device; storing first data indicative of audio communicationsbetween a first team at the race event, the first team not being said atleast one highest priority team that the user of the computing devicewants to hear over other teams at the race event, the audiocommunications between the first team occurring during the audiocommunications between said at least one highest priority team that theuser of the computing device wants to hear over other teams at the raceevent; after audibly rendering to the user communications between saidat least one highest priority team that the user of the computing devicewants to hear over other teams at the race event, audibly rendering tothe user the audio communications between the first team using the firstdata and the computing device; and visually rendering other informationrelated to at least some of the teams in the race event.
 65. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 64 wherein receiving from the userthe indication of at least one highest priority team that the user ofthe computing device wants to hear over other teams comprises receivingan indication of which team is a highest priority team, which team is asecond highest priority team and which team is a third highest priorityteam.
 66. The computer-implemented method of claim 65 and furthercomprising visually rendering an identifier of the team corresponding tothe audio communications being audibly rendered.
 67. Acomputer-implemented method to allow a user to listen to teams in a raceevent, the method comprising: receiving from a user interface of acomputing device an indication of at least one highest priority teamthat the user of the computing device wants to hear over other teams;audibly rendering to the user through a speaker of the computer devicethe audio communications between said at least one highest priority teamthat the user of the computing device wants to hear over other teams atthe race event using audio data and the computing device; storing in astorage device second audio data to be rendered to the user, the secondaudio data occurring during the audio communications between said atleast one highest priority team that the user of the computing devicewants to hear over other teams at the race event; and after audiblyrendering to the user communications between said at least one highestpriority team that the user of the computing device wants to hear overother teams at the race event, rendering the second audio data to theuser with the computing device through the speaker of the computingdevice.
 68. The computer implemented method of claim 67 wherein thesecond audio data comprises commentary related to the race event. 69.The computer implemented method of claim 67 and further comprisingvisually rendering through a display other information related to atleast some of the teams in the race event.
 70. The computer implementedmethod of claim 67 wherein the second audio data comprisescommunications of second team, the communications of the second teambeing other than the audio communications between said at least onehighest priority team.
 71. A computing device to render information ofteams in a vehicle race event, the computing device comprising: aspeaker; a display; a user interface; a storage device configured tostore audio communications of teams; and a processor operably coupled tothe speaker, the display, the user interface and the storage device, theprocessor configured to: receive from the user interface an indicationof at least one highest priority team that the user of a computingdevice wants to hear over other teams; audibly render to the userthrough the speaker the audio communications between said at least onehighest priority team that the user of the computing device wants tohear over other teams at the race event using audio data and thecomputing device; store in the storage device second audio data to berendered to the user, the second audio data occurring during the audiocommunications between said at least one highest priority team that theuser of the computing device wants to hear over other teams at the raceevent; and after audibly rendering to the user communications betweensaid at least one highest priority team that the user of the computingdevice wants to hear over other teams at the race event, render thesecond audio data to the user through the speaker.
 72. The computingdevice of claim 71 wherein the second audio data comprises commentaryrelated to the race event.
 73. The computing device of claim 71, whereinthe processor is further configured to visually render through thedisplay other information related to at least some of the teams in therace event.
 74. The computing device of claim 71 wherein the secondaudio data comprises communications of a second team, the communicationsof the second team being other than the audio communications betweensaid at least one highest priority team.
 75. A computer implementedmethod to provide information of teams in a vehicle race event to aplurality of remote computers, the method comprising: receiving fromeach of the remote computers an indication of an audio source associatedwith at least one highest priority team that the user of each remotecomputer wants to hear over other teams; transmitting to each of saidremote computers the audio data corresponding to the indication of theaudio source associated with the at least one highest priority team thatthe user of each remote computer wants to hear over other teams; storingin a storage device audio data from the audio sources at the vehiclerace event; after transmitting to each of said remote computers theaudio data corresponding to the indication of the audio sourceassociated with the at least one highest priority team that the user ofeach remote computer wants to hear over other teams, receive from eachof the remote computers a second indication that the user of each remotecomputer wants to hear audio data that occurred during the audio data ofeach of said respective audio source associated with the at least onehighest priority team that the user of each remote computer wants tohear over other teams; and transmitting to each of said remote computersvideo data corresponding to a selected camera view from a plurality ofcamera views that the user of each remote computer wants to view in therace event.
 76. The computer-implemented method of claim 75, wherein atleast some of the audio data corresponding to each respective secondindication from each of the remote computers comprises commentaryrelated to the race event or audio communications of a team being otherthan audio communications between each respective said at least onehighest priority team.
 77. The computer-implemented method of claim 75,wherein transmitting to each of said remote computers video datacomprises transmitting a plurality of camera views occurring at the sametime for simultaneous rendering on each the remote computers.
 78. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 77, and further comprisingtransmitting data to visually render performance of a team relative tothe team leading the race event.
 79. A computing system to provideinformation of teams in a vehicle race event to a plurality of remotecomputers, the computing device comprising: a storage device configuredto store audio data from audio sources at the vehicle race event; and aprocessor operably coupled to the storage device and a network connectedto each of the remote computers, the processor configured to: receivefrom each of the remote computers an audio source associated with atleast one highest priority team associated with a team that the user ofeach remote computer wants to hear over other teams; transmit to each ofsaid remote computers the audio data corresponding to the indication ofthe audio source associated with at least one highest priority team thatthe user of each remote computer wants to hear over other teams; storein the storage device audio data from the audio sources at the vehiclerace event; after transmitting to each of said remote computers theaudio data corresponding to the audio source associated with at leastone highest priority team that the user of each remote computer wants tohear over other teams, receive from each of the remote computers asecond indication that the user of each remote computer wants to hearaudio data that occurred during the audio data of each of saidrespective audio source associated with at least one highest priorityteam that the user of each remote computer wants to hear over otherteams; transmit to each of remote computers audio data corresponding toeach respective second indication from each of the remote computers; andtransmit to each of said remote computers video data corresponding to aselected camera view from a plurality of camera views that the user ofeach remote computer wants to view in the race event.
 80. The computingsystem of claim 79 wherein at least some of the audio data correspondingto each respective second indication from each of the remote computerscomprises commentary related to the race event or audio communicationsof a team being other than audio communications between each respectivesaid at least one highest priority team.
 81. The computing system ofclaim 79 wherein the processor is configured to transmit a plurality ofcamera views occurring at the same time for simultaneous rendering oneach the remote computers.
 82. The computing system of claim 81, whereinthe processor is further configured to transmit data to visually renderperformance of a team relative to the team leading the race event.